


Enervation

by Shadaras



Series: Dare to Live [1]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Gen, Mon-El is a dick, Sister-Sister Relationship, mentions of Alex/Maggie, mentions of Kara/Mon-El, mentions of Winn/Lyra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-17
Updated: 2017-03-17
Packaged: 2018-10-06 14:41:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10336850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadaras/pseuds/Shadaras
Summary: Sister Night is very important for everyone's mental health.(let's talk about romantic relationships and being happy)





	

Kara poked at the last potsticker with her chopsticks. The TV continued playing _Brooklyn 99_ , but the sound was turned down low enough that they could talk over it if they wanted to. They weren’t, right now, but Kara was pretty sure Alex was trying to pay attention. It wasn’t working very well; Kara could see the tension in Alex’s neck and jaw as she kept pointedly pulling her attention back to the TV screen, where Jake was pulling another ridiculous stunt.

The thought distracting Kara wasn’t going away. It hadn’t gone away for an entire episode, and was threatening to consume this one, too. Kara stabbed the potsticker and said, very quickly, “What does it feel like to date Maggie?”

Alex paused the show almost as soon as she started talking, confirming Kara’s guess about where her attention really was. “What?”

A smile tugged at the edges of Kara’s mouth, despite the way her breath felt stuck in her throat. She was almost certain that Alex had heard her the first time, but... “What does it feel like to date Maggie?” she repeated, more slowly, just to watch the blush spreading across her sister’s face. 

“Okay, um.” Alex rubbed her face with her hands, but Kara could still see the flush and also her wide, sort of helpless, smile. “This is going to sound so cheesy, but, uh.” Her hands dropped down so that Alex’s face was visible, perched above her curled-up knees. “Like I’m a flower and she’s the sun. Or maybe like she’s the moon and I’m the tides.” She hid her head in her knees, and waved her hands. “Fuck, it just feels _good_ , okay? It feels like the world’s okay, when we’re together, because how could it not be when I’m that happy?”

Kara stabbed the potsticker again. Her stomach felt empty, but she wasn’t hungry. Probably because she’d spent the day job-hunting instead of chasing criminals, petty and otherwise. Job-hunting didn’t use up nearly as much energy. It was also way less satisfying.

“And it’s just... it’s really _freeing_ , you know? Being able to go on dates and hold hands and watch people _smile_ because we’re so clearly happy.” Alex paused, and Kara heard her heartbeat and breathing change from bright and happy to something a little quicker, more anxious. “Kara? Are you okay?”

“I guess?” Kara blinked at the mangled potsticker, and put the container on the table before she actually broke the box. “I just..." She sighed, and pulled her glasses off to clean them, even though they didn’t need it. “I see you with Maggie, and Winn with Lyra—and I don’t understand them at all, sometimes—” she added hastily, feeling her cheeks burn. She’d walked into the alien bar to meet them once and they’d been all over each other, and nobody had really been paying attention. It had been very hard to have a normal conversation when distracted by the clear and fresh tooth marks all over Winn’s neck. Even if they hadn’t been uncomfortable, she’d been uncomfortable _for_ them.

She cleared her throat and put her glasses back on, firmly pushing that memory away. “Um. And you’re all so _happy_.”

Alex looked at her, and shifted on the couch so they were sitting side-by-side. Kara realized, as their shoulders pressed together, how quickly she was breathing.

“And you... aren’t,” Alex said slowly. She looked like she was putting together a complex puzzle in her head; like there was something there she hadn’t quite put together, but there was no way she was going to give up until she figured out what.

She also hadn’t asked a question. Those words sounded like they shouldn’t been a question. Kara shrugged, and looked away as the intense focus on Alex’s face gave way to concern.“I don’t know. It’s fun with Mon-El sometimes. And, well—” her face had to be matching her cape as she stammered out “—it’s nice being able to have sex without worrying I’ll break my partner.”

Alex’s long breath in and out was also familiar. It was the breath she took when she was absorbing some piece of information she didn’t like but had to accept as true. She usually used it at the DEO, not on sister night. “Okay,” Alex said, and she was back to that very determined tone. “What do you do for fun together?”

Kara bit her cheek.

Alex kept talking, almost nervously. “Like, Maggie and I go to the shooting range together if we’re really busy, because we can justify it for work reasons. But we also go to concerts, if someone awesome’s in the area. And I mean, sometimes it’s just those really cheesy classic things—” Kara felt the heat in Alex’s face “—dinner together, watching movies or TV shows, y’know? But it’s nice. She’s been showing me _The X-Files_ and explaining how it made a whole generation realise their gayness.”

“Didn’t we try watching that once?” Kara asked, looking up again at the halfway-familiar show name. “It was supposed to be about aliens or something?”

Alex laughed. “When we were kids, yeah. You got upset about alien-deniers having such a big platform before we got through even one episode, and then we never watched it again.”

“Oh.” Kara leaned against Alex a little, in apology. “Is it good?”

“It’s fun. Maggie’s commentary is great, and I know she’s skipping episodes that are just _bad_.” Alex pulled her legs up onto the couch again and stuck her toes under Kara’s legs. “You haven’t answered my question.”

Kara fidgeted with her hair. Of course Alex had noticed that, and of course she wasn’t giving up. “I don’t... it’s hard to go anywhere and just have fun?” she admitted. “I know he’s still adjusting to Earth, but it’s not fun needing to explain new things about how Earth culture works all the time.”

Alex hummed a little, and then said, “He still forgets to save the civilians, doesn’t he?”

“Talking about being superheroes feels too much like work,” Kara muttered to her knees.

Then she jumped, because Alex’s toes wriggled, almost tickling her. “So what do you talk about?” Alex asked.

The question was practical and obvious, but Kara winced anyway. “He tells me about his work, and I know he loves it, but... I can only listen to so many stories about drunk aliens before they all sound the same.”

Alex sat up and moved her feet out from under Kara’s legs so that she could put her hands on Kara’s shoulders. “Okay, so what do _you_ talk about? If you don’t want to talk about being a superhero, and you don’t want to talk about the bar.”

Kara looked over at the paused TV. “We don’t... Krypton and Daxam, sometimes. Planets we think it’d be cool to visit someday. Foods we like.”

“Do you talk about each other? And your relationship?”

Kara shrugged. The emptiness in her stomach was almost painful now.

“Maggie and I are kind of shit at it sometimes, but... we try, you know?” Alex gently turned Kara’s face until she was looking at her. “Have you ever talked about what you _want_ out of this relationship?”

“I...” Kara swallowed. “No? Just that, you know, we’re into each other? And kissing and stuff is nice?”

“Kara... even if you like him, you don’t need to date him if it doesn’t make you happy.” She paused, and frowned. “You _do_ like him, right?”

“Yes?” Kara shrugged again and looked down, twirling her hair around her fingers. “I like being able to talk about aliens with someone who grew up with them. And I like being able to talk about home, even if we argue over Kryptonian and Daxamite culture...”

Before she could finish the sentence, Alex pulled her into a hug. “We need to have sister night more often,” Alex murmured into her hair. “Kara, do you want to be friends with Mon-El?”

“Yes,” Kara answered, instantly, automatically.

“Do you want to _date_ Mon-El?”

She opened her mouth, then closed it. The silence was a clearer answer than anything she could get out of the tangled mess of her thoughts would be.

“Break up with him.” Alex pushed Kara back enough to look her in the eyes. “Be friends first, and then date if you want to later. Hell, you could even keep having sex, if that’s something you both like; you don’t need to date for that.”

Kara’s face was just as red as Alex’s, by the end of that sentence. The tears prickling at her eyes were incongruous; she didn’t feel sad. “I... how do you break up with someone and stay friends?”

“You say that?” Alex made a face. “I don’t know. It works sometimes, it doesn’t others.”

“Okay.” Kara rubbed tears out of her eyes. “I’ll... I’ll think about it, okay?”

Alex hugged Kara again, and said, “Okay.”


End file.
